You Can't Masquerade Forever
by irohsstinkysandal
Summary: When Katara is 'captured' by Zuko, the two find something neither expected. Someone is finally able to see through the Prince's endless tirade to the troubled teen boiling beneath the surface. It's just more complicated than she expected...


**A/N: Okay so….I have recently found a new obsession: Zutara! Although it may be my OTP, it's not from my favorite fandom (Pride & Prejudice) And like any and all of my obsessions, I have to get it out on paper (metaphorically since I'm really getting it out on the computer…) Ignore my nerdness, as well as any darcyisms…(referencing to another obsession which I previously stated and hope to write up one day…) Anyways! Here's some Zutara for you! This story starts in Season One during the episode The Waterbending Scroll. (I think that's the episode) This is what should have happened… It's not necessary to have watched the tv series up until that episode, but it does help **** Alright now before I begin, I would like to warn all of you about my severely bad sense of humor therefore making it near impossible for me to crack a joke of any level of funny…just in case…I will try to do so in the future…(ninja exit)**

**(reappears) P.S. I'm just going to take this time to say that I do not own ATLA and nor am I gaining any profit from writing this story…"thought you ought to know!" collapses onto floor dramatically. (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the Film Quirrell informs Dumbledore about troll) (disappears)**

**(reappears) P.P.S The poem in the beginning is by me **** Read & Review (disappears with a flourish)**

**Chapter One: Waterbending**

"_Water is fickle and inconstant,_

_Ever changing, day by day_

_Not in a certain way is it bent,_

_Nor does it sway a single way,_

_Water could be rapid and rushing,_

_Or it may be smooth and clear,_

_Whether your worries it may be crushing_

_Or in you bringing up a sense of fear."_

Katara opens her eyes quickly and adjusts them to the darkened sky. She slowly and carefully maneuvers herself into a sitting position before glancing over at Sokka and Aang's sleeping bags to make sure that the two boys are still deep in their slumber. Just as she had expected, they lay there snoring away as usual. She still waited a few minutes before getting up. She made her way over to the bag sitting at the end of Sokka's sleeping bag, and reached into it before feeling around for a cylindrical object, pulling it out after a few moments. It was an old scroll, the parchment yellow from proper aging. When you unfurled it, the edges were torn slightly and it was a bit worse for wear. Katara turned and crept away from the campsite as quickly and as quietly as she could.

She slowed her pace as she neared the small riverbank hidden from view by a cluster of bushes, and began to open the scroll. The parchment held a record of many advanced water bending moves. Katara had been teaching them to Aang ever since she had 'stolen' the scroll from the pirates. Well, actually it was more the other way around. Aang seemed to gotten a hold of the moves much faster than Katara, who was still shaky in her stances. Katara knew that the Avatar was a powerful bender, but he had never even tried water bending and he was already better than her. She had been bending for years now. As for the stealing, the pirates had stolen it from her sister tribe first, and she was just retrieving a lost possession for them. She was! It didn't have anything to do with her desire to be a better bender than Aang.

Sighing softly, Katara got into the first stance of the move, and began to bend the water from the bank. She moved through the stances easily but then at the last stance, the move failed. She groaned in frustration.

"Come on, Katara; shift your weight through the stances!" Katara swiftly moved her hands as the water floated in their wake. Crash! Suddenly she lost control of the water and it fell back into the bank. She growled in frustration and glared at the water out of annoyance.

Over on the river a small, iron cutter quietly sailed alongside a larger wooden ship. On the deck of the wooden ship stood two people so opposite from one another. One was dressed in the typical fire nation military weeds; it was the banished Prince Zuko. The other man wore a large maroon tunic accompanied with an equally large hat, which was the same shade. On his shoulder, a gruesome reptile-bird was perched. Suddenly this man, the Pirate Captain, spoke, "Shouldn't we stop to search the forest?"

Prince Zuko, slightly annoyed at the idiocy of the pirate captain with whom he had made a deal, turned to him and quite sharply responded, "They stole a waterbending scroll, didn't they?" The captain responded with an affirmative. "Then they will be on the water." His voice carried so much of the tone of finality on the subject that it caused the Pirate Captain to retreat from his ally. Just as soon as the two finished their rather short conversation, small noises could be heard on the ship.

"Ugh! Come on water! Work with me here!" Zuko immediately became alert. He ordered the ship to close in onto the island. The scheme was to corner the group into being captured.

Katara had taken a break from her strenuous practice when she heard a noise. Quietly she made her way to a nearby bush, and separated its leaves, before peeking through. A fire nation cutter alongside a pirate ship! A small but audible gasp escaped her lips; she should never have stolen that scroll! She turned around to run, but to her misfortune, she ran straight into a pirate from whom she recognized as one from the shop in the market from where the waterbending scroll previously resided. He grabbed a hold of her waist but she bended some of the water from the riverbank and splashed it into his face startling him. The pirate let her go out of shock, and she turned around again in attempt of finding a way to escape from the him, only to come face to face with her arch nemesis, Prince Zuko. Zuko immediately grabbed her wrists and said in a low, intense voice, "I'll save you from the pirates." After Katara got over her initial shock, not to mention the slight blush that crept its way onto her cheeks at the thought of the Prince's words, she narrowed her eyes. There was no way she was going to let him capture her, or her friends.

"No thanks," the snarky reply slipped from her mouth before she could deliberate whether or not to say anything. A strong knee in Zuko's privates followed the words very quickly. As Zuko doubled over in pain, Katara ran from the scene.

"What are you doing?" Zuko barked, "After her, and capture the boy as well!"

"Quite the feisty one, she is," Iroh stated as he approached his nephew.

"Are you done?" Zuko asked his uncle as the pain slowly dissipated leaving only that of his wounded pride.

Katara ran as quickly as she could, while often looking behind herself in order to make sure that the pirates and the firebenders weren't close. It was a great risk she had taken back there, one that she was certain would have severe repercussions if she were to get caught, but she wouldn't. Katara would make sure of it. Peeking over her shoulder, she caught sight of a single firebender closing in on her. All she could see was his silhouette but that was more than enough for the frightened girl. She tried to contain the scream threatening to break loose from her vocal chords, and focused all of her energy on running. She didn't realize that a large tree root was directly in front of her until it was too late. She tripped on the root and fell to the ground, her knee bearing the full weight of her body as it collided with the solid soil. Dark crimson blood oozed out of the fresh wound as she groaned in pain. Katara looked up to see the firebenders and pirates closing in. They were still a good distance away and she could probably make it to safety if she left now, so she got up and kept running. Her wounded knee screamed in pain causing her to bite the inside of her cheek to force her focus away from the pain. When she tasted the rusty flavor of blood in her mouth she stopped and glared ahead as she approached the clearing where she had left Sokka and Aang.

Suddenly Katara felt someone roughly grasp the back of her dress. She screamed out of terror.

"Don't worry, filthy peasant, I won't hurt you…much…" Zuko smirked. He knew he wouldn't really hurt her, even he had some morals. He would never lay a hand on a girl. What kind of a man would do such a thing?

Sokka and Aang both jump out of their sleeping bags at the sound of Katara's screech, and look at each other with worried expressions clouding their faces.

"Katara," they say simultaneously, before rushing off in the direction of the sound.

Zuko had tied the waterbender up to a tree and was smirking at her from a safe distance.

"Tell me where he is," he demanded in a harsh tone, glaring at the little wench, clearly still miffed about what happened before.

"Go jump in a river!" Katara knew he had the upper hand here but she would never let him come to that realization if she could help it. Also, she had a fierce loyalty towards the ones she loved and would never give away Aang and Sokka's location.

"Try to understand," Zuko began forcing a look of fake compassion to contort his features into something Katara found rather repulsive, "I need to capture the Avatar in order to regain something I have lost, my honor." Zuko began circling around her like a predator would to its prey. He stopped directly behind her and leaned in until his lips were directly next to her ear.

"Perhaps in exchange for that I can return something that you have lost?" he whispered. Katara could feel his hot breath against her earlobe and as it fanned against her neck sending shivers down her spine. What could he possibly be talking about? She watched as he raised his arms. The waterbender's eyes widened as she looked down to see what he was holding in between both of his hands.

"My mother's necklace," she exclaimed, "where did you get that?"

"I didn't steal it, if that's what your implying," the Prince didn't hesitate at a chance to mock the wretched water tribe peasant.

"Oh ha ha very funny," Katara replied her voice dripping with sarcasm, "however much I want my necklace back, I would never betray Aang. Not everyone is as two faced as you are, you know!" She didn't think about the double meaning behind her words until they had slipped out of her mouth. Her eyes widened with the realization of what she had just said and she stared at the now furious fire prince.

Iroh looked at Prince Zuko as soon as he heard the fiery waterbender's insult. He could see the anger etched into his nephew's face. "Prince Zuko," he called with his hands in his sleeves. Zuko turned towards his uncle and exhaled sharply letting out a puff of smoke.

"I have had enough of this silly necklace talk! You promised us the scroll," the pirate captain spoke up already frustrated with the lack of things to do.

Zuko turned towards the captain and pulled out the scroll from behind him. With his free hand he created a small flame and held it beneath the scroll. "I wonder how much this is worth." The pirates all screamed out in fear. Katara rolled her eyes. She knew Zuko wouldn't burn it. It was his bartering chip with the pirates. Without it he would have to face their wrath. Also Zuko had proven to be a man of his word. If it hadn't been for the fact that he was chasing the Avatar, Katara might have thought him to be a wonderful friend and ally. "A lot it seems," Zuko continued, "You get this, when I get the boy. Go all of you, search the forest!"

Katara glared at him, before squirming around in attempt to loosen her bindings. She had to escape to help Aang and Sokka from all of the pirates and firebenders combined, not that she'd be much help as she wasn't really the best of waterbenders, but she still had to try.

As Aang and Sokka approached Katara, they heard a familiar voice speaking. The two looked at each other both silently making a pact to remain silent. The two of them crept up behind a row of bushes in order to see what was going on but not to reveal their presence. Still unable to see anything, Aang grabbed Sokka's blue water tribe shirt and airbended the both of them up into the tree directly behind them.

Sokka growled softly at the sight of his baby sister tied up to a tree, and his hatred towards the fire nation prince flared. Aang could hear the warrior muttering under his breath, "I'm gonna make him pay for doing that to Katara." When Zuko leaned into Katara, his face awfully close to hers, Sokka looked about ready to murder him. Sokka was doing a very small victory dance when Katara accidentally insulted Zuko. "Go Katara," he whisper-cheered. Aang too was trying to desperately control his jealousy at Zuko's closeness to Katara. There was a burning sensation in his chest, and he slapped it in order to tone it down. Sokka was far too busy observing the scene to notice Aang's pain.

Sokka and Aang's eyes widened at Zuko's immediate order to his men, and the pirates, to go search the forest to find them. Aang whispered quickly to Sokka, "Let's go, we're gonna have to leap from tree to tree, think you can manage?"

"Yeah," Sokka muttered back," I'll be fine, let's go." Aang, quickly airbended his way to the next tree, with Sokka in his wake. Sokka carefully crawled out to the end of the limb from the first tree. Aang turned around after he reached the second tree to look at Sokka.

"Come on, Sokka!" He whisper-shouted to the hesitant warrior.

"Calm down Aang, not everyone's an airbender like you!" Sokka prepared himself to jump. He moved one foot ahead of the other and bent his knees before bouncing on the balls of his feet. In one swift motion, he propelled his body forward, leaping for the next tree, but the tree was much further away then Sokka had thought it to be and he found himself falling towards the forest floor. Aang immediately jumped off of the tree to check and see if his friend was okay. As soon as the young Avatar's light feet made it to solid earth, he was surrounded by a group of pirates and waterbenders combined.

"Uh oh," Aang whispered.

**A/N: Ohhh, you guys are gonna hate me for leaving you with a cliffie…but it's two in the morning, and I want this chapter up. I'm going to try and write regular chapters (not easy for me) and yeah… I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter, if you think it's short…hehe…it's relatively long compared to my other one's….hehe. I hope that doesn't prevent any prospective readers. Anyways please leave a review guys. I need to know that this is worth my time. I legit wrote three different drafts for this and then edited it…for you all zutara fans out there. Look I'm so tired instead of typing 'all you', I typed 'you all'. Ah well…you guys get the drift. ANYWHOO! I really need to get some rest….(aren't you all the lucky one's)**


End file.
